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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00028 Jun 2004

 
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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha

Srimad Vara Vara MunayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha



"Srivatsachinha misrEbhO namavukthi madheemahi,

yadhuktayas trayeekantE yAnthi mangaLasootrathAm"



"Sri parasara bhattAryA: SrirangEsa purOhita:

srivatsAngitha sudhas sriman sreyasE mEstu bhooyasE"



Dear bhagavatas,



Now adiyen has called you all as bhagavatas-what does that mean? All of you 
will be tempted to answer immediately Oh! Don't you know that? We are all 
bhagavat bhakthas. Then if adiyen asks you then who is bhagavan? Surely all of 
you will come to a conclusion that something has gone wrong with me. After 
reading and writing so many postings in these valuable groups can anyone ask 
this silly doubt? It is ofcourse, emperuman Sriman Narayanan. Then why are we 
bhakthas not called otherwise why are we called as bhagavatas and Lord Sri 
Krishna as bhagavan. Bhagavan being a general term does cause confusion and 
many claim that only the deity they call as bhagavan is supreme. 



Are you confused? There is no need of confusion. The term bhagavan undoubtedly 
refers only to Sriman Narayanan, Sri maha Vishnu. But the confusion is only 
because of the ignorance of the meaning of this term. What is the meaning of 
the term 'bhagavan'? We know who is 'bhagavan' - Bhagavan Sri Krishna. We know 
that the purana that details about Krishna and his divine leelas and attributes 
is only called as "Srimad bhAgavatham" Krishna bhakthas are otherwise called 
"bhAgavathas" and the great text given out of the divine mouth of emperuman 
"svayam padmanAbhasya mukapadmAt" is called as "Srimad bhagavat geetha" but 
what does this term "bhagavan" actually signify?



Bhagavan - according to Sanskrit grammar, the root 'bhaga' signifies six prime 
kalyana gunas. One who is filled with these kalyana gunas is called as 
bhagavan. Again one more doubt may arise- we even use this term to others like 
"Narada bhagavan, suka bhagavan, valmiki bhagavan" why? That is because they 
have been blessed with some of these gunas due to the nirheduka krupai of 
emperuman. Like the azhvars who were blessed with "mayarvaru madhi nalam" the 
above said rishis were also blessed by bhagavan with some of the gunas totally 
not attainable by a normal soul. It doesn't mean that they have become equal to 
emperuman it is just to show their greatness and superiority over the other 
souls. Let us further see about the six prime gunas.



"Mozhiyai kadakkum perum pugazhan" is the reward given to Swamy koorathAzhvan, 
the prime disciple of Swamy ramanuja by thiruvarangaththamudhanar. See what 
that great koorathazhvan says about the bhagavat kalyana gunas in his "Sri 
Varadarajan stavam"



"prakrishtam vignAnam bala madulam Ishvaryam akilam

vimaryAdham veeryam varadan! Parama shakthirapi cha I

param tejascha ethi pravara guNashatkam prathamajam

guNAnAm nissemnAm gaNana vigunAnAm prasavabhoo: II (15)



[Meaning: Oh varada! Great jnana (knowledge), incomparable bala (strength), 
uncountable Ishvaryam (wealth), unlimited veerya (valour), excellent shakthi 
(power) and brilliant tejas (brightness) all these are the Six prime gunas that 
dwell in the first primodial form, para vAsudEvan. These form the root cause 
for the other limitless uncountable kalyana gunas of emperuman]



>From the above sloka it is made clear that the para vAsudeva moorthi is a 
>embodiment of these prime gunas that further develops into all the other 
>countless kalyana gunas behind the bhagavat tattvam. In the above sloka, Sri 
>KoorathAzhvan adds adjectives like "prakrishtam, adhulam" etc to show the 
>speciality of knowledge, strength etc possessed by emperuman while compared to 
>the same of others.



What use are these qualities to the supreme lord (para vasudevan) we will see 
in the next posting with the help of Sri KoorathAzhvan's son, Sri Parasara 
bhattar's srisookthi in his divine work "Sri Rangaraja stavam" (uttara satakam).



Alwar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




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